Let's count all the WTFs in Season Five of The L Word

So what did everybody do Sunday night, now that the L Word's fifth season is over? Anybody get out of the house, or have somebody over for actual conversation? Maybe even about something other than the L Word?

Might be something to consider for next Sunday. You know, just to change things up a bit. But I know going through L withdrawal is no fun. Here's an excuse to go back and watch the episodes again: Let's try to spot all the WTFs.

You know what I mean. Lord knows we complain about the show's questionable plot  developments,  random personality shifts and issues with general continuity. We suffer writing that makes us go, "Huh?'' How often does the dialog and the plot stuff takes us right of the story and makes us wonder what the hell the powers at the L Word are thinking. Like, are they not following along as closely as we are?

I mentioned a couple of examples earlier.  There is Peggy Peabody telling Helena she is her sole heir, although in a previous season Helena establishes that she has siblings. WTF?

And there's the fact that Helena skips town after her stint in the slammer and then one fine day comes back to WeHo with no explanation about how she resolved her legal issues.

Also, wasn't it entirely out of character for Shane, who early on was established as the super-intuitive "Yoda" of the group, to be entirely clueless about Bette and Tina hooking back up? Shane woulda had their number. And, as much of a bad girl as she has always been, she has also always been incredibly loyal to her friends. Shane wouldn't have messed with Jenny's girlfriend. That just didn't ring true.

What about all the WTFs around Jodi's Bette-bashing multimedia art piece? And who did Alice turn into this year? Remember how many personality changes Tina had?

I' ll bet you guys have many more examples you can list right off the top of your heads. Plus, finding some beyond that will give you an excuse to watch your favorite episodes again.

So, come on, let's point them all out. We can even consider some of the WTFs of seasons past, if you like. Anything to pass the time without our favorite show. We had lots of fun finding the WTFs last year at the end of Season Four. Why not go another round? And yeah, even with the WTFS, we love the L Word. So what?

Comments

[btfan2]

Well here's a few to start:

Helena getting to the tarmac just as the Medavack lands. No how could she time that and how did she get a Copter pad on the roof of a hospital

Helena and Lover Cindy - did helena just dump dusty/rusty?? and now she has her very own Bitch??

How did Helena get all that legal mumbo-jumbo done so quickly for the Planet and Shebar??

I have tons more just a start!!

btfan2

[Gwen-elle]

Hey Lydia,

I think it would take less time, energy and space on this blog if rather than listing the WTFs that we made a list of what were not WTFs instead. To me, the whole season was a WTF. Just kidding (sorta).

Unfortunately, my memory ain't so good these days. Stress and aging are a b*tch! I've been amping up on the B vitamins, but looks like that ain't gonna quite get old neurons, neurotransmitters and other such brainstuff clicking sufficiently to recall the oh so many WTFs that plagued the season.

Now this is not a WTF that falls into the standard WTF category, but the thing that stands out for me (as small and as petty as it seems) is that watch that Jodi gave Bette as a birthday cum see ya later gift. I am sure it says a lot more about me and my own personality quirks than it does about the story/plot/character, but I just simply have not been able to accept as anywhere near plausible that an artist would give ANYBODY a dad blame watch. What artist has any conception of time? WHATSOVER! I literally still laugh about that characterization whenever I think about it, which thankfully is less and less often the further we get away from the episode that will go down in television history (at least my own fading recollection of television history) as the "Most Dissappointing Execution Ever of A Storyline That Never Should Have Been". Hyperbole? Perhaps.

With respect to Peggy P's reference to Helena as her only heir, we may have to let Ilene off on a technicality with that one. Checking the dictionary, a heir is not necessarily the same thing as a beneficiary. Peggy P. said that Helena was her only heir, not her only beneficiary. Perhaps Ms P. does not deem the other siblings capable of managing the "vast Peabody fortune". Now in no way do I believe that the writers, Ilene, or whoever was responsible for this WTF was making a distinction, but Mr. Webster does give them a bit of wiggle room on this one.

Anywhoo, that's it for me. It's that damn watch that I just can't seem to get pass . . .

[Sue]

Hi Lydia,

Here's a couple:

Why would Ivan sell her half of the Planet to DD without calling Kit first?

Why did the actor who plays Nina in Lez Girls, Gretchen Pickles, not know how to have sex with women at the beginning of 506 when, according to Tina, she is the only real out lesbian in the cast?

Why would Kit seriously consider shooting Dawn Denbo?

What happened to Helena's kids?

Why does Helena have a British accent when her mom doesn't?

I've got more but that'll do for now.

[Bev]

Shane does have a history of messing with Jenny's girl friends. In Season 2 Shane started messing with Jennie's girl friend, at the time, Carmen. Jennie was very hurt when she saw the tape of Shane and Carmen together.

[Shelly]

I don't mind the plot line WTFs as much as the minor continuity errors. It really pulls me out of a scene when I see something like what happened in the opening of Jodi's dinner party episode. Shane and Jodi are riding their bikes, talking, and Shane's sunglasses disappear and reappear on the front of her shirt. I suppose all shows have stuff like this--they only have a week to shoot this stuff--but still, nothing reminds me that this is "showbiz" more than things like that.

Oh, and to Sue: You mentioned some great WTFs. I, too, have been annoyed at how easily Helena's children were dismissed. But, as far as her accent goes, I believe the story is this: Peggy ran off with a "Brit" (this was explained in the last episode of S3, because Shane and Carmen's reverend was Peggy's ex-lover; all part of that "chart" business that season which brought us the great opera scene with Bette and Alice). She married this guy (Helena's father) in England, and Helena was brought up there. You know, in boarding schools and all of that...

Lydia, I love your column. Thanks! I don't know what I'll miss more, the show or all of us obsessing over it.

[pbroulette]

Here is my WTF- before the season began, Ilene was all over OurChart, sho.com and other sites talking about how season 5 was going to pick up a few weeks after season 4 ended. So, in the final episode of season 4, Bette is leaving for NY to get Jodi back. She mentions to Phyllis something about having a nice spring break. Well, here on the east coast, spring break is generally in the spring. (Maybe it's different in fictional California art schools-not really sure)
Anyway- in the first episode of season 5, we see Helena being arrested and in her mug shot (on the placard thing she is holding,) the date is January 18, 2008.

A few weeks later Ilene? You mean like 40? WTF??

[amy]

I really want to know where Jodi got the video and audio of bette.

Also why is bette talkin bout babies when they haven't even moved back in together

Also where did Papi go? They didn't even bother to write her out of the show. Plus at the end of 4 Kit and Angus was hangin out at the beach. Did they float off in the raft with Jenny and not make it back?

[Dutch/Juno]

Lydia-- thanks so much for throwing us withdrawing fans the lifeline of at least one more Blog!! Much appreciated!( And just one more request--at some point, could you/we explore the L Word's 'world of Anvils'? Before the Series started, none of us could recognize nor speak "Anvilese" with which it has been peppered--e.g. Bette's lecture to Alice on monogamy in S1--since then,Anvils have been great predictors of where s/ls would go, and might make for a fun column.)
But, back to the subject at hand. Kit's whole attitude about Bette-Jodi-Tina seemed pretty "WTF?" to me. First she's admonishing Bette not to hurt Jodi, and reminding her how she 'hated' Tina....next thing we know, she's singing TiBette praises. Another one:
in the exterior shot of Bette and Jodi walking to Bette's car (for the break-up that never ends discussion), check out the passersby. (same shot, different folks)

[Lydia Martin]

Hi Bev,

That's a good point about Shane and Carmen. Forgot about that one.

[lenb]

It really bugged me the WHOLE season that Shane never noticed what was going on between Bette and Tina. For one reason in particular: how hilarious was it when Shane realized Alice and Dana were in love with each other at that Asian restuarant? Her face, going back and forth between the two of them. Priceless... It would have been equally as funny if it happen with B&T.

Plus, it's not like Shane had a plotline this season. The first half of the season, Shane had too much sex. Then no sex. Then she helped Kit from DD/LC (If I were Shane's friends, I'd be really pissed at her about that. She didn't even apologize to them for making their lives a living hell this season).

[teacherK]

i think the biggest question is one that someone mentioned once earlier:
for her piece of "art", where did jodi get the video and audio of bette??

[Lydia Martin]

Hi Dutch,

I like the anvil idea. We could list a whole bunch of those, whether they were intentional anvils or not.

[Lydia Martin]

Hi Amy,

Don't know where Papi went, but I'm kind of glad she's gone. She was a cheesy stereotype. But speaking of Latinas, where did Carmen go? I mean, doesn't she still live in LA, and wouldn't somebody have run into her somewhere? Or, maybe I missed some big explanation about Carmen moving to Tijuana or something.

[Lydia Martin]

Sue, Shelly,

Good points all.

[Lydia Martin]

Btfan,

Totally true, what DID happen to Helena's kids. Almost forgot about them.

Gwen,

You're right about the watch. I thought the same thing. Like, huh? Talk about an unimaginative gift. I guess maybe Jodi was trying to come up with a gift that would have been a turn-on to Bette, even if it was not up her own alley. But it just didn't work for me. It was a nice watch, but not stylish or designy enough for Dean Porter.

It just seemed like a terribly unsexy gift from a famous artist to a notable contemporary art collector.

[Gwen-elle]

First, wanted to send a shoutout to Ella. Where's Ella? Are you there? Staying strong I hope!

Lydia,

Just indulge me one more time on this watch thing okay? I know we already discussed this after episode 11, but way before we got to episode 11, I had stopped paying attention to story (since there really wasn't one) and had begun to focus more on what the writers were doing and how. It was that focus and this blog, that kept me watching season 5. When this *watch thing* happened,it just short circuited the brain, left me with a mild case of OCD . . .

As you pointed out in episode 11's blog, Bette is a big-time art collector and Jodi is a big time artist. The writers have shown us this, along with the fact that Bette is moved by beauty. And so, it is reasonable to expect the characters' actions to be motivated by what we have been shown about them. In this case, Ilene's choice just made the Jodi character that much more unbelievable and the whole Jodi storyline that much more annoying.

But then maybe by this time Ilene, like the rest of us, had so given up on the Jodi character that she just wasn't paying attention to detail anymore (unlike some of the rest of us). Given that fact, she would not consider the gift of a watch to be far more congruous with what you'd give somebody after 35 years working at a crappy corporate job, not a lover. Nor would IC necessarily realize by this point that perhaps the only thing that some of us were willing to cling to, or belief we were willing to invest in Jodi was her artist's soul.

Then I had this thought: Ilene could have been revealing Jodi's character flaw to us and I was just too dense to get it; the flaw being that Jodi just didn't *get* who Bette was and thus one more reason why the relationship had to end.

But in all honesty, I realized sometime yesterday (now that I am more fully re-situated in left brain mode), that my hangup about the watch was really symbolic of my frustration and an unwillingness to concede and admit what I felt: that TLW season 5 had been a waste of time. But I am over that now. Sometimes, it takes a while to figure out what the right brain (symbols) are trying to get across to the left brain.

Funny, this blog is sorta like therapy . . .

I don't know how much longer you plan to continue with the blog now that the season is over, but could I make a request? Is there any chance that you could give us a rundown on / discussion of the pop and lesbian culture references used in TLW? Perhaps, you've already done an article on this? But it would be nice to blog on it: what the references were, how they furthered (or more likely did not further) the drama or reveal the characters, etc. Would surely be educational for me. Thanks.

[btfan2]

Can someone help me with this. Isn't Jodi being paid for her "art". If so doesn't she by law have to get some sorta ok before she can use the voice of another person especially without their knowledge??

I'm also pretty sure about the film too. Since it seems to have been done at least partly at Bette's home(WTF). Isn't there an expectation of privacy in your own dam house?? And since she didn't do the video or the voice doesn't she have to give creds to Maxi Pad and Tommy cringe since we're pretty sure they are the one's who helped.

Also can't Bette sue all their sorry asses on a mutiitude of charges?? Bette please stop groveling to these trolls!!

Then there's the whole Alice and the special invite where she had to sign a privacy statement to attend. And then outed the guy on the internet with pic's she took at that very same party(WTF!!!)

Oh I have lots more

btfan2

[Shelly]

My thoughts on the watch:

Pure product placement. The brass at Showtime got a good chuck of change from the TAG people, and had to work it in somewhere. Who else on the show would were a watch like that? Well, maybe Tina or Alice. But they already did a watch thing with Alice, and it would be just as weird for Bette to give Tina the watch for no reason. I actually think it's quite appropriate for Bette, but I also think its funny that she was wearing a watch throughout the episode. (Well, of course she already has one--several, I would imagine.) No, it's totally not the kind of gift Jodi would give Bette, and we can speculate about what the writers were trying to "tell" us, placed conspicuously as it is at the end of their breakup, but the fact remains: sometimes a watch is just a watch. And sometimes people make a lot of extra cash by showing it off to hoards of lesbians with expendable income.

[Lydia Martin]

Hi Btfan,

Totally true about Alice signing that confidentiality agreement. Why did they even bring that up if they were going to ignore it immediately? They set us up and then - nada.

And about the Jodi artwork. Total WTF. Just makes no sense she would have gotten the images and sound. I mean, one supposes she wasn't working on the Bette-bashing piece all along. Because she wasn't pissed at Bette until she found out about her cheating with Tina. And she found out about that on the camping trip - and then didn't see Bette for days afterwards. She didn't see her again until the breakup day. So when did she have time to set up hidden cameras? I still go back to the possibility that in those few days that she didn't see Bette after the camping trip, she was plotting her revenge.

So maybe she showed up at the Planet totally wired and carrying a hidden camera in her lapel or some such. (Maybe Max and Tom helped with that?)

But if that's what happened, Jodi is a sick f*ck, and the powers dumb f*cks for not explaining the situation at all.

[Lydia Martin]

Gwen,

I'm glad your left brain has reconciled with your right brain. The waste of time bit is inspired. And sure, I'll work on a post about the pop culture references. I'll bet some folks have even more examples than I do.

[Lydia Martin]

Shelly,

You are so right. That watch was just a clumsy attempt at product placement. They made very sure we saw the brand. They could have worked it in much better than they did.

[btfan2]

Shelly

You almost have to wonder about more then JUST the watch. I'm still dismayed about the whole Niki "thing", this can't be IC's NEW fair haired girl. What was the whole Niki down our throats all season all about?? Other then WTF - we have no screen time but; what the hell lets waste as much as possible anyway!!. Yes!! she's pretty. YES!! she has NO!! talent, no "it" factor, her character was almost as boring as Maxi Pad(ok!! ok!! no one is THAT boring- no slam to Daniel- but gessey, peasey Maxi Pad is just painful to watch; coupled with Tommy Cringe and you want to schedule a root canal to STOP the pain).

Anyway tlw or cbs must have had IC by the short hairs if not; my opinion of IC - well never mind.

You sit back and reflect on s5 and the story line(I know - what story line - we did get don't ask; don't tell) of each character - almost every one is a Giant WTF.

Yes we did get TiBette, sorta, kinda. IC had to make it cheap and ugly. If you really look at it there was no real story.

I'm still wondering - when Tina came to Bette's house to seduce her; how did she know Jodi was not there and wouldn't be there. She never seemed to know where Jodi was any other time?? And didn't she just recover so quickly from the "Are you in love with Jodi - Yes I am", head banger.
There was no hesitation on Tee's part - no concern that Bette would say NO. How did she get THERE so fast??? And the big, big question - when did they turn off the damm stove??

btfan2

[Lydia Martin]

BTfan,

Right, the stove. I guess they just let Angie's healthy, balanced meal burn. But never mind that, Kit probably fed the kid a bunch of crap at Disney Land anyway. The real issue is, by the time Bette and Tina made it out of bed and back to the kitchen, the whole place would have been up in flames. Or, maybe they had a real quickie.

[va999999]

the hugest WTF for me all throughout this show is bette and alice's relationship. it kills me how they refer back to their past fling almost every season and each time they contradict what they previously told us about them. i mean, really, couldn't ANYONE working on the show for once keep track of that?

in season 1 we find out that bette and alice are in the best friend stage when bette meets tina, then, in season 2 we learn that bette leaves alice for tina after that infamous opera visit they had. now in season 5 apparently bette's cheated on alice. i guess in season 6 they'll tell us that bette and alice were married before bette met tina (i wouldn't be surprised by now)

[Sue]

Great points everyone. I still that the first and ultimate WTF moment for me is the fact that Bette had an affair with someone right after Tina's miscarriage. I just can't see Bette doing that to the love of her life. The storyline leading up to that focused so much on how much the two of them love each other, and it just didn't gel with me. Also, Bette wouldn't have been so unemotional around Tina when she learned of the miscarriage. Nobody is that cold.